Popular uprisings demanding democratic reforms that have already toppled autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt now threaten vast swathes of the Middle East and parts of Africa. While Libya is currently garnering most attention, Algeria, Jordan, Iran, Bahrain, Yemen have all recently experienced mass demonstrations. To a lesser extent, unrest has also emanated out of Morocco, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Many of these nations are large oil producers.

The Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme aims to bring benefits to Australia by encouraging the development and expansion of foreign markets for Australian goods, services, intellectual property and know-how.

Last month, the ATO signalled a low tolerance for highly engineered cross-border structures when it dramatically sought to impose tax on TPG’s $1.5 billion profit on the Myer float. In the course of the ATO’s frantic efforts to secure a slice of the Myer millions, it issued two draft determinations last Friday setting out the circumstances in which it will challenge similar private equity arrangements.

Investing directly offshore rather than indirectly through Australian Funds will provide a more favourable GST outcome. The decision by the Federal Court in AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited v Commissioner limits the availability of input tax credits on acquisitions related to interests held in Australian funds which invest wholly overseas.